


Two Birthdays

by Beth H (bethbethbeth)



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: HP Brief Birthday Celebration, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-09
Updated: 2010-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-11 09:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/110800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethbethbeth/pseuds/Beth%20H
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Severus Snape's birthday.  Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Birthdays

**Author's Note:**

> _Written (at the last minute) for: the [**Severus' Shorts' Brief Birthday Celebration**](http://community.livejournal.com/severus_shorts/7542.html)._

It was 11:15 on the evening of the ninth of January, and Severus Snape was doing what most of his classmates would have agreed he did best, which is to say he was crying.

It wasn't as if he'd expected anyone to make a fuss, especially not after he found out he wouldn't be able to go home for the winter holidays. After all, it wasn't like his da would have wanted him underfoot for weeks on end, not with Mum called away to look after her cousin Shavaughn. And Mum couldn't have taken him along to her old home, Severus being a half-blood and all.

Lily would probably have asked her mum to drive her down to WHSmiths so she could buy some stupid birthday card for him if she'd known he wasn't going to be home, but Severus _hadn't_ told her and Lily was probably staying with her auntie now, so even if she knew, it wasn't like she could send anything by owl. And his house-mates...well, they weren't exactly the cakes and balloons type - not for a first year's birthday anyroad - and besides, the only other Slytherins staying over the hols were a pair of sixth years and _they'd_ gone into Hogsmeade with Professor Slughorn four hours ago, without even saying goodbye.

And so there hadn't been a pressie (not even a naff one) or a card or _anything_, and when Severus finally trudged down for supper, the Great Hall had been empty and dark and Severus hadn't even bothered to go inside; he'd just turned around and run back to the dungeons and curled up on his bed, trying hard not to snivel and failing completely.

He'd fallen asleep sniffling and when he'd woken up three hours later, his cheeks were still wet with tears, and Severus couldn't really blame anybody for not wanting to spend time with him, not even on his birthday because the truth was that _he_ wouldn't want to spend time with such a rotten little crybaby, not if he wasn't stuck with himself.

***

**thirty years later**

"Would somebody - and yes, that means you, James - care to explain why Al is currently clinging to my robes and weeping."

"I don't know, Uncle Severus" James said, with just enough innocence in his voice that somebody who _wasn't_ Severus Snape might have believed him. "Maybe because Dad's picking Lily up from Mum's house?"

"I shall give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you couldn't possibly be such a dunderhead as to think that I wanted to know why Al was clinging to me and not to his father." Severus peered over the tops of his glasses at James and tried to ignore the fact that Al was wiping his nose on Severus's sleeve. "Perhaps you'd like to try to answer my question again."

James sighed, then shrugged his shoulders. "He's crying because I said that grownups don't have cake on their birthday."

"Which is patently untrue," Severus said, "and you know this because you and I purchased my birthday cake earlier today."

"I know, but...it was just a joke! Anyway, he's already six years old and he's acting like a crybaby. Six year olds shouldn't cry over stupid things like cake," James said. "_I_ didn't cry about cake when _I_ was six, did I, Uncle Severus?

"No, you didn't," said Severus. "But you did cry last week when Mr Hagrid introduced you to that baby Acromantula, and nobody laughed at you, did they?"

James looked down at the floor and shook his head. "No, sir," he said quietly.

"No, they didn't. And now," Severus said, "I think you need to go up to your room."

James nodded, then - lower lip trembling a bit - asked, "Does this mean I'm going to miss your party?"

"Absolutely not," Severus said. "You're one of my most important guests."

"I am?"

"You are. Now upstairs with you. And as for you," Severus said to Al, "perhaps you'd like to...."

"Can I go upstairs to James' room too" Al asked, sliding off Severus's lap. "We could have a detention together!'

"Hmm, I don't know...James, what do you think of that idea?"

James nodded enthusiastically. "I think it's a good idea."

"Well then, that's settled. Both of you upstairs for...detention, and then back down after your father comes home for my birthday dinner."

"And your presents!" Al said before clapping his hands over his mouth and looking nervously at his brother, but James just patted him on the shoulder before turning back to Severus.

"He's not so good at keeping secrets," James whispered. "He's just a little kid."

"Keeping secrets is over-rated," Severus whispered back. "Other things are much more important."

"Like cake!" Al said, grinning.

"Like cake," Severus agreed.


End file.
